Provost Honored with Leadership Award

  • Harry Hellenbrand

    CSUN Provost Harry Hellenbrand receives AASCU's William M. Plater Award from George Mehaffy, AASCU's vice president for academic leadership and change. Hellenbrand received the award during CSUN's Faculty Senate meeting. Photo by Lee Choo.

California State University, Northridge Provost Harry Hellenbrand was presented last week  with the William M. Plater Award for Leadership in Civic Engagement, one of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ highest honors.

The award, which was presented to Hellenbrand at the CSUN Faculty Senate meeting on March 5, recognizes the critical role of the chief academic officer in advancing the civic mission of the campus through curricular reform, public advocacy, accountability for institutional citizenship, faculty development and recruitment and partnerships with community organizations.

“As provost of CSU Northridge, Harry has championed student success, a cause that is near and dear to my heart,” said George L. Mehaffy, vice president for academic leadership and change at AASCU. “During his tenure as provost, Harry has led many of the changes to shift institutional focus to student success. He has left us a valuable rubric, a pathway for us to follow.

“He has championed an increase in advising and other student services. Under his stewardship, enrollment of international and nonresident students has expanded. He has encouraged the development of new online, hybrid and traditional courses. He has decreased failure rates by supporting several course redesign projects.

“In short, Harry has focused his career on helping students,” Mehaffy said before presenting the award to Hellenbrand.

Hellenbrand thanked AASCU and the university for the honor.

“It was a pleasure and an honor serving in this role the last 11 years,” Hellenbrand said. “I look forward to being a pain-in-the-neck faculty person again.”

This is one of several awards Hellenbrand has recently received. He received a lifetime achievement award from the American Association of University Administrators. In January, it was announced that Hellenbrand planned to step down as provost and vice president for academic affairs at the end of the academic year.

He became CSUN’s provost in August 2004. Previously, he served as dean and professor at the College of Liberal Arts at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo from 1998 to 2004; dean and professor at the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, Duluth from 1994 to 1998; and chair and professor in the Department of English at California State University, San Bernardino from 1982 to 1994.

 

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